


Cafes & Holidays

by Whirlwind



Category: Stitchers (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Holidays, camsten
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-17 16:40:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10597995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whirlwind/pseuds/Whirlwind
Summary: Kirsten finds herself forced to find a new coffee shop, and upon doing so, has to contend with an amiable barista who's determined to get her to order something besides her usual black coffee.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago for my Stitchers Secret Santa gift to malecxwessa on Tumblr and forgot that I never actually posted it here on AO3. So I thought I'd finally put it up.

Kirsten pushed open the glass door to the coffee shop, where her ears were immediately bombarded with the sound of Christmas music blaring through the speakers, making her quickly start to rethink her decision to come here. But with her usual coffee shop now closed down, she had been left to try and find a new one in order to get her caffeine fix. This particular cafe was called “The Brew”, and it was fairly close to the university, which made it an ideal location, so she decided to check the place out.

Approaching the counter, she finds a young man with green eyes and brown hair, dressed in a plaid shirt and a blue apron standing on the other side. “Welcome to The Brew.” He greets with a smile. She glances at his name tag and finds that it reads Cameron.

“What can I get you?”

Her eyes briefly scan over the menu listed above her on the wall, ignoring half of the overly fancy nonsense listed there, and she quickly decides on her order. “I’ll have one medium black coffee.”

“And the name?”

“Kirsten.” She replies, as she glances around the place, scoping out somewhere to sit and work on her laptop.

“So, first time here?” He asks, as he starts filling up her cup.

“Yeah.” She answers absently, paying him little attention as she looks around. It’s then that she spots it, a small empty table off to itself, away from the hipster patrons who have congregated in the center of the seating area.

“How’s your day been?” The barista inquires.

The blonde lets out an annoyed sigh at the young man’s continued attempts to make conversation with her. “Look, I don’t really _**do**_ pleasantries. I’m just here for some coffee. So if you wouldn’t mind.”

Cameron’s a bit taken a back by her blunt comment, but recovers quickly. “I’m guessing you’re not a morning person?”

“I’m not an anytime person.” She clarifies.

“Noted.” He comments, as he scribbles something on the side of her cup, then places the lid on top of her coffee and holds it out for her to take.

Kirsten grabs her drink and then pulls out her laptop as she takes a seat at the table she spotted earlier. As she waits for her laptop to boot up, her eye catches the writing on the side of her cup. Picking it up, she finds that instead of it reading Kirsten, like it’s supposed to, it instead reads: Frosty.

The blonde turns around towards the counter and finds the barista giving her a teasing smile as he leans against the counter. She rolls her eyes at him and returns her attention back to her laptop, then takes the coffee cup and rotates it in the other direction, with the name facing away from her, just to prove a point.

He can’t help but chuckle at the young woman’s display of defiance. It’s on that cold winter day (at least, by Los Angeles standards) in December, that Cameron Goodkin makes it his goal to get this girl to smile.

* * *

The coffee shop is busier than it was yesterday, with a very long, slow moving line, much to Kirsten’s displeasure. So she passes the time by going on her cellphone as she waits. When she finally reaches the front of the line, Kirsten looks up from her phone and lets out a groan at the sight in front of her.

“You again?” She says upon seeing the same barista from yesterday standing before her once more.

The young man grins upon seeing her. “Where’s my cheery hello?” He teases, with a slight wiggle of his eyebrows. Her stone cold expression remains unchanged however, so he gets back to his job.

“So what can I get you Stretch? Something different this time? Perhaps some hot cocoa? ‘Tis the season.” He suggests, gesturing to the machine beside him that makes the chocolaty treat.

The blonde shakes her head. “Nope. Just my usual medium coffee black.”

“Are you sure? We even have mini marshmallows.” He says in a slight sing-songy manner.

“Just the coffee.” She reiterates.

He frowns, a bit disappointed by her lack of holiday spirit and adventure when it comes to beverages. But he complies and starts preparing her order.

“And for the record, I only work here part time.” He adds, in reference to her earlier comment. Kirsten nods in acknowledgment but says nothing further.

The blonde then grabs her coffee from him and takes a seat at her usual table. She glances down at her drink and finds that just like yesterday, her name is not written on the cup, it once again contains a nickname. Today it says: Sugarplum.

* * *

Her third day coming into the coffee shop, and who does she once again find behind the counter, but none other than Cameron. Why is she not surprised. Kirsten folds her arms and raises an eyebrow at him. “For someone who only works here part time, I sure do see you a lot.”

He chuckles. “Let me guess, same thing as always?”

The blonde simply nods.

“Are you sure I can’t interest you in trying _something_ else?” The foodie in him is desperate to get her to try a new combination or at least something different on the menu. With all they offer at the shop, she still just orders the same drink _**every single time**_. He can’t even get her to try a muffin, which he personally helped make earlier this morning.

“Nope.” She replies with her usual stubborn stance on the matter, but there a small glint of amusement in her eyes at the boy’s relentless persistence.

Cameron fixes her with a playful challenging stare. “One of these days I will get you to try something other than a medium black coffee.”

She returns his challenging stare with one of her own and smirks slightly. “Good luck with that.”

They stay like that for a couple of minutes, seeing which one will back down first from their little staring contest. Cameron is the first to break and a look of triumph spreads across Kirsten’s face. He pouts slightly in being defeated on two fronts, but proceeds making her order. He’s not sure if he just happened to catch her in a good mood today or if she’s actually warming up to him, but he notices her usual look of annoyance has lessened dramatically.

She sits down and find that her cup once again has a nickname written on the side. Today’s name: Nutcracker. Kirsten is surprised when a small snort of laughter escapes her upon reading the nickname.

Though it’s not the smile Cameron was hoping for, getting a small laugh of sorts out of her is at least a step in the right direction.

* * *

The next day at the cafe, Kirsten finds herself waiting in line as usual to order. When the large gentleman in front of her finally steps away, after spending 10 minutes trying to figure out what to order, much to the annoyance of the rest of the line behind him, she walks up to the counter. Her eyes widen slightly and she frowns when instead of seeing the annoying brown haired barista known as Cameron, she finds a young Asian woman standing there instead.

“Order and name?” The lady asks.

It takes Kirsten a moment to answer, but she then tells her the order and her name, in which the other woman then nods decisively. “Coming right up.”

While she’s waiting for her drink, she glances around the shop. It seems that Cameron really isn’t working today. Nevertheless, she keeps expecting him to pop up somewhere with his teasing smile and chastise her on her refusal to try a new flavor coffee. She’s so used to it at this point that it seems odd not to see him. The coffee shop just doesn’t seem to have the same energy it usually does.

The woman behind the counter returns with her drink and Kirsten heads over to her regular spot. When she sits down, she looks at her cup and is strangely disappointed when it simply reads: Kirsten. She won’t admit it, but her daily trip to the cafe isn’t as enjoyable without him there.

* * *

Kirsten finds that Cameron’s back at the cafe today. His eyes light up when he sees her and a smile spreads across his face.

“Hey there, Stretch. Did you miss me?” He asks somewhat jokingly to her, though there is a genuine curiosity there too, and a hopeful look in his eyes as he waits for her answer.

“Didn’t even notice you were gone.” The blonde replies nonchalantly with a slight shrug, though that couldn’t be further from the truth. Cameron’s face sinks and he frowns, genuinely disappointed.

“Oh.” He says quietly.

Kirsten’s a bit caught off guard by his response. Had she hurt is feelings or something? She hadn’t realized he actually cared that much about what she thought of him.

Cameron is pretty quiet as her prepares her drink, and doesn’t partake in any of their usual banter. He simply hands her the drink and the blonde proceeds to sit down at her spot.

Kirsten then takes a sip of her coffee and suddenly makes a face upon tasting it. She gets up from her chair and storms up to the counter.

“You did something different to this.” Kirsten announces, as she gestures to the cup in her hand with a tilt of her head.

“Do you like it?” He asks hesitantly with a worried expression on his face.

She frowns. “It’s not what I ordered.”

“But do you like it?” He presses, still cautious in his tone as he tries to figure out if he had just made a huge mistake or not.

She places the cup down on the counter and crosses her arms. “That’s beside the point.” The blonde says dismissively, looking away momentarily.

A feeling of relief passes over him and smile crosses Cameron’s face. “So you _**did**_ like it.”

She levels him with a glare and heads back to her seat, but not before turning back around and grabbing her coffee and taking it back with her.

He shakes his head and chuckles, content with the fact that at least she enjoyed it.

“Peppermint.” He calls out.

“Huh?” Kirsten spins back around when she hears him speak.

“It was peppermint that I added.” He clarifies.

She stands there a moment, then simply nods and returns to her table.

The name on her cup this time is: Jingles.

* * *

On this particular day, the coffee shop is fairly quiet and empty. Kirsten has already gotten her coffee, now with added peppermint, despite having to deal with Cameron’s smug grin over the new addition to her drink, and is at work on her laptop as per usual. Because of the lack of customers, Cameron decides to mull around the cafe and check up on Kirsten. He walks over to her and hunches down, his face hovers by her shoulder, looking at the screen.

“Whatcha working on?”

She turns to look at him and finds that there’s something different about him now than when she saw him earlier. “You wear glasses?” She asks curiously. He seems to have forgotten he had put them on and he self consciously adjusts the frames. “Oh, um. Yeah.” He sheepishly scratches the back of his neck and straightens up. “I lost one of my contacts and had to put these on.” She finds that with his glasses on, he seems a bit more shy and awkward. It’s rather endearing actually.

Kirsten pulls out the chair beside her and Cameron sits down next to her, scooting close so he can see. “I’m working on a recognition program for class.” She explains.

Cameron’s rather impressed by what he sees. “Wow. So this is what you do everyday in here.”

Kirsten nods. “I’m a computer science major at the university.”

“Any plans for winter break?” Cameron inquired curiously, as he propped his elbows up onto the table.

Kirsten shook her head. “No. My roommate is out of town with her boyfriend. So, just enjoying a quiet and clean house for once. You?”

He shrugs slightly. “My parents decided to go skiing in the mountains this year, so I’m not going anywhere. I’ll probably just catch up with some reading.”

Cameron then nervously rubs at the back of his neck. “So……” He starts hesitantly. “The shop is going to be closed next week, and uh, since neither of us really have any winter break plans, maybe we could-”

“Cameron, look.” Kirsten interrupts, as she points towards the cafe window. He turns around and sees a very surprising and unexpected sight outside.

“It’s… snowing?” He asks in disbelief, adjusting his glasses and rubbing his eyes to make sure his eyes aren’t playing jokes on him.

“Come on.” The blonde grabs his arm and starts pulling him outside with her to check it out. Cameron yells out a quick ‘I’m going on break!’ to his manager before being yanked out the door to investigate.

The duo look up at the sky and find that it is indeed, truly snowing out.

Holding out his hand, a small snowflake lands on his palm and quickly dissolves. It’s obviously to warm out for the snow to really stick or accumulate, but even still, the sight of it falling in this city is really something.

“I’ve never seen snow before.” Kirsten admits, as she watches in awe as the snowflakes dance around on their downward descent towards the sidewalk.

Kirsten walks up ahead to get a better look, Cameron following behind her. When she finally finds a good viewing spot, she stands there and simply watches the snow for a couple of minutes. It’s then while standing there that Cameron notices something hanging above them.

“Oh.” Cameron says, in slight surprise, which gets Kirsten’s attention. She looks up to find a mistletoe tied to part of the overhang above them. The blonde glances at him momentarily, then back up at the plant, before returning to look at him once more with a rather unreadable expression.

He stammers nervously. “We uh, we don’t… We don’t have to…”

The blonde gives a slight shrug, then places a small kiss on the side of his cheek, causing Cameron’s cheeks to turn a bright shade of pink. The amusing sight of this brings a smile to her face. He always wanted to get her to smile, he just hadn’t quite expect it to be this way. But he doesn’t mind, because seeing her smile is absolutely beautiful.

He’s at a loss for words momentarily, but Kirsten isn’t. “Come on. We should probably head back inside, unless you want to get fired.” She points out, as he remembers he’s still on the clock at the coffee shop.

Cameron nods. “Right.”

As they headed back into the cafe, Cameron thought to himself that it was rather funny that it decided to snow today of all days. Because the name he had written on Kirsten’s cup that afternoon, just happened to have been: Snowflake.


End file.
